Isaiah 24:1
Behold, the Lord maketh the earth empty, and maketh it waste, and turneth it upside down, and scattereth abroad the inhabitants thereof.
Study Note
Study Note
The apocalyptic opening of Isaiah's 'little apocalypse' (chapters 24-27) declares that God will make the earth empty, waste, and overturn it, scattering its inhabitants. Unlike the earlier oracles against specific nations (chapters 13-23), Isaiah 24 universalizes judgment — 'the earth' (eretz) here likely means the entire known world, not merely Palestine. The verse inaugurates a section that is among the closest Old Testament parallels to New Testament apocalyptic, describing cosmic upheaval, the imprisonment of heavenly powers (24:21), and divine kingship on Zion (24:23). Revelation draws heavily on Isaiah 24-27 for its own imagery of cosmic judgment and eschatological restoration.
Other Translations
Behold, Jehovah maketh the earth empty, and maketh it waste, and turneth it upside down, and scattereth abroad the inhabitants thereof.
Lo, Jehovah is emptying the land, And is making it waste, And hath overturned <FI>it on<Fi> its face, And hath scattered its inhabitants.
See, the Lord is making the earth waste and unpeopled, he is turning it upside down, and sending the people in all directions.
Cross References
Your country is desolate, your cities are burned with fire: your land, strangers devour it in your presence, and it …
Except the Lord of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom, and …
And they shall go into the holes of the rocks, and into the caves of the earth, for fear of …
And I will lay it waste: it shall not be pruned, nor digged; but there shall come up briers and …
Then said I, Lord, how long? And he answered, Until the cities be wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without …
And the Lord have removed men far away, and there be a great forsaking in the midst of the land.
The Lord shall bring upon thee, and upon thy people, and upon thy father’s house, days that have not come, …
And on all hills that shall be digged with the mattock, there shall not come thither the fear of briers …
The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and shall be removed like a cottage; and the transgression …
Yet the defenced city shall be desolate, and the habitation forsaken, and left like a wilderness: there shall the calf …